Wallabies can’t let chance of Bledisloe win slip through their fingers

Joe Schmidt might be planning for the future, but the Bledisloe Cup opener at Eden Park in two weeks is a once-in-a-blue-moon chance against an All Blacks team that looked like ghosts after their 43-10 humiliation against South Africa on Saturday.

Tane Edmed struggled in Sydney – similar to Ben Donaldson’s difficult Test against Georgia last year – and the Wallabies need James O’Connor’s experience in Auckland. The sight of Nic White spraying Edmed in Sydney after the two collided in the first half was a bad look – arguably for both players – and the Wallabies can’t cross the ditch with anything less than full confidence in their game drivers.

The All Blacks scrum has melted in two successive Tests, and their defence – which somewhat fortunately conceded only 29 points in Argentina in round two – is all over the place. This is a now-or-never moment for Australian rugby, not a development opportunity.

Wallabies comeback would have been a travesty

A 1–1 series split between the Wallabies and Los Pumas was a fair result. Despite assurances to the contrary, the Wallabies replicated the ill-discipline they showed in Townsville last week and then added a few more self-inflicted wounds: needless offloads and aimless kicking. There was also a sense that Los Pumas, feeling aggrieved after the Townsville loss, simply wanted it more. Witness No. 12 Santiago Chocobares’ tackle on a rampaging Taniela Tupou – which looked like a guaranteed shoulder reconstruction – and his remarkable ability to get up and carry on.

Superb Springboks raise the bar

South Africa took their brilliant first 20 minutes against the Wallabies at Ellis Park and extended it to about an hour of irresistible rugby against the All Blacks in Wellington. There have been two standout Test performances this year – France’s destruction of Ireland in Dublin during the Six Nations, and South Africa’s performance on Saturday. The two heavyweights meet in Paris in November, and the winner can justifiably claim to be the best side in the world. As for the All Blacks, former greats Mils Muliaina and Kieran Read effectively accused the team of “giving up” on Saturday – a brutal criticism, particularly from the mild-mannered Muliaina, who is usually very measured in his assessments.